Physicists sometimes come up with crazy stories that sound like science fiction. Some turn out to be true, like how the curvature of space and time described by Einstein was eventually borne out by astronomical measurements. Others linger on as mere possibilities or mathematical curiosities. In a new paper in Physical Review Research, JQI Fellow Victor  have explored the imaginative... Continue Reading

JQI graduate student Jacob Bringewatt is one of four post-candidacy student winners in the campus-wide portion of the UMD Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. Each of these four winners received $1000. Each will be further evaluated by the UMD Graduate School, and one will be selected to represent the university in an international 3MT competition. In these events, the competitors must... Continue Reading

The research of JQI Fellow Alicia Kollár, who is also a Chesapeake Assistant Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland, embodies the give and take between physics and mathematics. In her lab, she brings abstract theories to life and in turn collaborates on new theorems. She has forged a research program of manipulating light on a chip, coaxing the light into behaving as though it... Continue Reading

JQI graduate student Michael Winer has had a relationship with physics—and physics at the University of Maryland in particular—since he was a kid. He first came to UMD as a high school student pursuing his competitive spirit when physics was a fun challenge. Then over time, physics became something more nuanced for him. Now, he has returned to UMD to pursue physics as a career and is also... Continue Reading

There is nothing permanent except change. This is perhaps never truer than in the fickle and fluctuating world of quantum mechanics. The quantum world is in constant flux. The properties of quantum particles flit between discrete, quantized states without any possibility of ever being found in an intermediate state. How quantum states change defies normal intuition and remains the topic of... Continue Reading

Elizabeth Bennewitz, a first-year physics graduate student at JQI and QuICS, has been named a finalist for a 2022 Hertz Fellowship. Out of more than 650 applicants, Bennewitz is one of 45 finalists with a chance of receiving up to $250,000 in support from the Fannie and John Hertz Foundation. ... Continue Reading

There is a well-known saying, of disputed origin, that dissuades students and even working physicists from thinking too deeply about the meaning behind quantum physics. “Shut up and calculate,” it goes. Nicole Yunger Halpern, an affiliate of JQI and the newest Fellow of the Joint Center for Quantum Information and Computer Science (QuICS), was never one to abide by this mantra. Instead, Yunger... Continue Reading

Often when physicists study phases of matter they examine how a solid slab of metal or a cloud of gas changes as it gets hotter or colder. Sometimes the changes are routine—we’ve all boiled water to cook pasta and frozen it to chill our drinks. Other times the transformations are astonishing, like when certain metals get cold enough to become... Continue Reading